RSPB volunteering opportunity in Ballymena to help create habitat for endangered corncrake

Following the latest volunteering day off-reserve in Ballycastle on November 7, a further event will be taking place in Ballymena on Thursday, November 14 from 9:30am-3:30pm.

A post on the RSPB’s website, where volunteers learn more about the project or sign up for the opportunity, notes that the team needs help to dig up and wash nettle rhizomes at various sites in Northern Ireland.

"These rhizomes are used to create essential habitat for corncrake on Rathlin Island, their only known breeding site,” the organisation adds.

No experience of digging is needed, with everything explained and demonstrated to volunteers.

The project team will then wash the rhizomes and store them in bulk bags ready for collection.

"Washing the nettle rhizomes is essential in making them easily transported and avoids bringing unwanted seeds and invertebrates onto Rathlin,” the RSPB adds.

"Digging is a challenging task, but we will have a lunch break to refuel. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided. Toilets facilities are available at all sites.”

An endangered species, the corncrake faced extinction in Northern Ireland in the 1990s.

However, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the ‘Giving Corncrake a Home’ project from RSPB NI, the birds made a triumphant return to Rathlin Island in 2014.

The project, which has been running for over a decade, continues to play a crucial role in saving the red-listed species.